A podcast all about Japanese cartoons and comics as discussed by three self-proclaimed experts in the world of anime and manga! Plus anime news / reviews, coverage of classic anime, hentai / yaoi, and much, much more. Updated every week. We hope.

Thursday, August 02, 2007

You thought last week was pain? This week is ALL bad anime. Daryl secretly loves Angel Cop, Gerald is ashamed to own The Humanoid, and Clarissa's blood pressure is DA BOMB when she watches Naikaku Kenryoku Hanzai Kyosei Torishimarikan Zaizen Jotaro.

Introduction (0:00 - 24:40)Sexy beast of the Internet Ken Arromdee writes in to ask about whether or not people are full of it when they try to say that Gunslinger Girl is not pandering loli garbage. Daryl reveals his caring, sensitive side. Also, James the Apollo SmileEnablerDenier reveals to us what Viz doesn't want you to know regarding why they weren't at Anime Expo this year by way of his insider connections that let him get interviews with Rintaro. Somehow we end up talking about videogames, and wouldn't you know it: right as we say "Blu-Ray is region free" it turns out that Stranglehold is going to be region locked because GOD FORBID people reverse import the game to see Hard Boiled in high definition. Idiots.

How could you tell?!Some of the faces we were talking about during the review

Review: Naikaku Kenryoku Hanzai Kyosei Torishimarikan Zaizen Jotaro (41:52 - 1:07:43)Jim from Las Vegas wants more Discipline readings, but TV's Patrick Macias was the alpha and Max's dad was the omega. Clarissa stumbled upon this deviance and genuinely dislikes it, which makes Gerald's genuine love for it all the more endearing. This series broke Clarissa's will and resolve, as did editing this segment. If we never see her again, know that Zaizen Jotaro was her downfall. DA BOMB!

Promo: Anime Pacific (1:07:43 - 1:08:43)Just when you thought the amount of Robot Carnival references couldn't get any greater, Dane and Alex take a breather from making fun of Americans to throw one more onto the pile! Secret spoilers: originally Daryl was going to review Robot Carnival next week, but he called an audible in post-production.

Review: Angel Cop (1:08:43 - 1:44:58)One of the Holy Manga Video Trinity of Suck that has served Daryl well as far as providing panel material over the years. Why, just marvel at that level of detail! All would-be Special Security Force agents who wish to buy Angel Cop should do so off of Amazon.com via clicking that link above! Daryl could have easily made this show the "do nothing but talk about Angel Cop" episode, but instead decided to convey but a portion of its undying might to you. Worry not: Dave and Joel's review of Angel Cop will fill in the missing gaps. To anyone who can translate Japanese: email us and we will send you an MP3 file of one seriously important Japanese discussion. If you can send us back the full unabridged text, that'd be super. Bonus points if you can time the script for us, but Daryl will do that on his own otherwise.

Closing (1:44:58 - 1:51:01)This weekend is Anime Festival Orlando, next weekend is Yasumicon! Somewhere in between we'll find time to finish turning in Otaku USA articles that really should have been finished a while ago, and also watch things. In a meager attempt to be poignant in the face of requests to not intensify the badness (and make no mistake: WE CAN DO THAT), Daryl is going to review the Barefoot Gen anime and manga. Clarissa's reviewing Suzuka Volume 1 even though Funimation refuses to update the mailing address they send this stuff to, and Gerald's not reviewing anything since he's got an Otakon con report to dish out. Since Daryl and Clarissa weren't present, we just might have to get someone else on here who was there. Guests? On this podcast? What a shocking concept!

57 comments:

LOL, just today I was wondering when the new episode was coming up and here it is! Awesome! Great work on keeping up the pace guys! Not listening to the show right now since I'm finishing up watching Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie (Chun-Li's boobs!!) but I assure you I will listen to this episode as soon as I'm done with this movie. I already got it downloaded. ^_^

I made a quick search of Amazon for Angel Cop, and they have it used. 40 something dollars, however. Hopefully ebay has it. Also, it's important to note that you can buy Violence Jack used on Amazon UK. For £224.99. Yeah. No joke.http://www.amazon.co.uk/Violence-Jack-Vol-1-3/dp/B00009P9OA

What is truly humbling (and scary) to me is that the first Anime DVDs that I bought were WICKED CITY, DEMON CITY SHINJUKU, and ANGEL COP. Then again, I also possess old VHS copies of the two GOLGO 13 titles.

I don't care what anyone says! I still loves 'em! They're anything but dull!

You guys are right about Gunslinger Girl. While it may not have been as creepy with the loli in the anime, it is definitely that kind of creepy sexual perversion with the girls in the manga. I read volume 1 and volume 2 and I don't remember, but pretty much between every chapter there was a picture of one of the girls in lingerie or whatever looking hot, sometimes with a gun.

Hmm, I've yet to listen to episode 57, but are the VHS fansubs for Angel Cop inaccurate as well? I just finished rewatching those and they didn't seem too incongruous with what I know about the story and my tiny knowledge of Japanese. "Yudayajin" means "Jewish", right?

I had to put my God-damned roller down a second to type my amazement at the fact you didn't know about Rei's famous line from episode 12, "I dislike meat." Famous, because it's been quoted in about eight thousand H doujinshi.

So just to say something that is likely so obvious that Carl will call me on it and mock my weak kung-fu, I state:

Listening about Zaizen Jotaro, I can't help but think it's something that has to be based on some historical thing, like some 16th Cent. Samurai Drama, because the whole thing with how people react when he drops 'Da Bomb!' sounds like the 'reveal' moment in those dramas.

When the Secret Envoy of the Emperor states his name, whips out his Imperial cherry blossom seal and *gonnnnnnn* everyone just surrenders, the corrupt local offical hanging his head in shame.

It's always amazed me how different the Japanese take on being busted seems to be, compared to the usual American take. In Japan, the normal response is surrender, while in America it's "Feet, do your stuff!" (or pull a gun).

yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm sure I'm full of crap on this. maybe it's more a stylistic convention from a line of films or something. Like everyone copying camera angles and shots from either High Noon or For a Few Dollars More when they make a western.

It timeless, too. Crusher Joe has that scene, when Bard shows up in the corrupt pol's office, casually takes out his 'notebook' with the Offical Crest on it, and *gooooong* game over, man!

I am honestly surprised that AWO didn't give a rave review of 'Zaizen Jotaro'. The manga is basically a sequel to a 'Nakabo Rintaro', a work that many including myself consider to be Tetsuo Hara's greatest work. And while the anime adaptation of it might got overshadowed a bit by 'Musashi Gundoh', it still is quite a cult favorite. In fact, I found it the most hilarious show in recent years.

"When the Secret Envoy of the Emperor states his name, whips out his Imperial cherry blossom seal and *gonnnnnnn* everyone just surrenders, the corrupt local offical hanging his head in shame."

Actually your are thinking of the Mito Komon tv series where Tokugawa Mitsukuni (The Anime Companion 2 p.103) wanders the countryside in disguise with his assistants, one of whom pulls out an inro with the Tokugawea crest at the appropriate moment in the show.

Daryl, I did a spit-take at the point where you said, "But who's BEHIND the terrorists?" and consequently had to re-do that portion of the wall. You know that a must for a future Anime Hell will be a special set of clips from ANGEL COP with "corrected" subtitles. The truth about its original content really needs to be substantiated one way or the other, like an anime version of MEMRI. Because, well, you know:

http://www.sdjewishjournal.com/stories/july03_2.html

I certainly wouldn't speak of Azumanga Daioh in the same breath as Gunslinger Girl. One of the things that sets Azu apart is that, although it's full of cute girls, it mercifully lacks oniisan or sensei daisuki characters. The one main male figure, Kimura, is there to remind the older male audience of what their obsessions with the characters would look like in real life (he's presented at one point as a nice guy in private with a family, but even when presented with evidence, the girls, to their credit, never quite believe it). As a matter of fact, Azu isn't really interested in defining the characters in terms of romantic feelings, or who they're going to end up with--even the one serious crush in the series (of Kaorin for Sakaki) is not only unrequited, but unnoticed. At the same time, the series isn't dominated by fan service.

I think much of the appeal of the show for guys is this novelty: the characters aren't presented as daughters or little sisters, or even potential girlfriends, but simply as friends. They hang out together and do stupid shit. They have fun and they get on each other's nerves. They fight, and they stick together. In some ways Azu is a bigger fantasy than any high-school yazuza-martial arts-SF drama, because in real life (or even in the Japanese version of it) it seems highly unlikely that among its cast, none of them would be dating or have a boyfriend at their age, or even talk much about boys. While you can certainly view this as allowing the male audience to think of the girls as their own, I really don't think this is the vibe the show is trying to give off. By taking relationships and romance off the table, it allows you to simply like the characters without tension.

Wow, Carl, great comment and link! Even though I haven't seen Azumanga Daioh, I do think the same could be said about Dennou Coil, a brand new series whose female characters are quite far from the moe genre. I highly recommend checking it out, as it's turning out to be a really intriguing and fun series. Regarding the article I thought it was interesting that it mentions Tezuka and Miyazaki's appreciation for the Fleischer cartoons; but was there anything in those shorts that was particularly Jewish and not present in any of the other shorts of the era? I wonder.

And while I clearly remember watching all the previews to Angel Cop back in the day, I never got around to watching it... maybe I'll try and sit through it... or maybe not.

W00t, just got back from my weeklong vacation, so I can comment on your show.

Thanks for making my year and reviewing Angel Cop. It pretty much exceeded my expectation; the only complaint I have is that you didn't play any awesome clips from the dub. Although, I think hearing the phrase "the motherfuckin' goddess of stickin' your dick in things" makes up for it.

I have to comment on something else...did I hear you say that Masami Obari is another one of those mech designers that can't direct? I have to disagree. Obari has directed a few terrible things (Gowkaizer...), but he has directed some stuff that I really like, such as Fatal Fury. So I have to give credit to him for that.

You do realize that soon, to counter the terrible stuff you've reviewed the past 2 episodes, you have to do an episode of all timeless classics. Review, oh I don't know...Gunbuster, Nausicaa, and Buddha, or something. It's the only way to balance things out.

Well, I'm off to download Zaizen Jotaro...oh wait, DVD rips of ZZ and Victory Gundam are out? Sorry, looks like ZJ's gonna have to wait.

I transcribed and re-subbed the notorious, edited Angel Cop ep. 6 scene, using a VHS fansub and a pirate digisub version of the Manga DVD (I tore up my house trying to find the DVD, but to no avail).

Here's the version with the fansubs overlaying the Manga subs:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cenvER2-qvQ

Here's the side-by-side comparison of both subs (Manga sub at the bottom, unedited fansubs on top):http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDdr-1iOqag

The fansubs seem to jibe with what little I can understand of the Japanese speech. But names like Vietnam, Iraq, Iran, and Asia are easy to pick out, and correspond with the subs. Run it by someone fluent to be sure. I have the AVI and sub files if they're needed, but I have no way of digitally capturing the VHS fansub (unless you want cell phone pictures of it playing on my TV).

I'm pretty sure there are digital fansubs of the "Jew version" of Angel Cop out there, I believe ILA-Fansubs (who also are currently releasing the original Devilman TV series and have recently finished up the Space Adventure Cobra Series) released a version of this quite a while back. The ultra right-wing nationalistic vibe of this anime chilled me when I first saw it at the tender age of 15. (Covering the Chinese suspect's gangrenous wounds with leeches was one such scene I remember). The racism present in this series really chills me to the bone, though Manga's dub tones down on this somewhat and as Daryl said, is pretty hilarious.

One little side-note is that the "original work" is credited to Hideki Takayama; The director of another Manga / Anime that was mentioned this episode, Legend Of The Overfiend!

Well, I'm off to download Zaizen Jotaro...oh wait, DVD rips of ZZ and Victory Gundam are out? Sorry, looks like ZJ's gonna have to wait.

heh, haven't found any Zaizen Jotaro torrents that are much alive now, but it's nice to see someone's bothering to do rips of ZZ Gundam now.

There's one place to at least watch ZJ if need be. A similar video hosting place to the rest, Guba, has some episodes up, though they appear to be raws otherwise, but you have the option of downloading iPod or PSP-compatible MP4's of it none the less (too bad you can't grab the original AVI's that Guba otherwise allows for vids they come off Usenet binary groups).

dane: You take out the racist elements, though, and it feels like the plot for an unfinished Metal Gear game.

On a related note, how did Viz allow you to publish that first story in Golgo's Greatest Hits #9, Carl? Did they think that kids just skip over the series in general for that crappy Battle Royale manga?

It's easy to critisize bad anime when compared to good anime, but what if all you have to compare it to is American animation? The US animation during the 80s was so bad it makes even bad anime look like fine art. Remember "Donkey Kong" or "Care Bears?"

I know "Odin" gets panned alot, (and I assume you mean the one I saw as "The Quest for Odin") but what if that's one of the few anime movies one has seen? If one hasn't seen much anime then the sheer look of that movie would be facinating. And the story is more complex than anything a Disney movie would have.

That's a good point about how even a poor anime might seem interesting when compared to an American animation of the same period. I think one broad generalization you can safely make about anime is that it is more interesting as a field, more interesting overall, than American animation, if you simply look back over the last forty to fifty years and compare the range of TV shows, movies, and videos the two fields have produced. Anime has its own cliches and technical inferiorities, but it's had the larger body of work, tried more different things, and had the more ambitious writing and art direction.

But this podcast is called "Anime World Order," rather than "Animation World Order." I've never been a fan of animation per se; anime is undoubtedly animation, yes, but to me that's a little like automatically classifying HANA-BI with most American films just because they were both undoubtedly shot in live-action. Sort of like how "manga" is a result of things that went on over a long period in Japan specifically, so is "anime"--if you ask what makes "Japanese animation" the way it is, you find yourself putting more stress on the first word than the second.

Well, it's not that I dislike Pixar or anything, and of course Miyazaki himself speaks very highly of John Lasseter. He seems to be a true filmmaker with a personal vision; I'm just not personally into the 3-D style of animation--somehow for me, it's going conceptually in the wrong direction. I think you can do more in art with painting than with sculpture.

Has anyone ever read the Angel Cop manga? Apparently, the manga author hated the anime. What few images I've found of the manga make it look like a light-hearted, eighties-style Sonoda/Hirano, girls 'n guns kind of thing.

carl: "Well, it's not that I dislike Pixar or anything, and of course Miyazaki himself speaks very highly of John Lasseter."

I think he's just doing it, so that his films don't end up becoming hacked like Nausicaa. But John K. praised them, too; and he hates most "newfangled" animation.

"He seems to be a true filmmaker with a personal vision; I'm just not personally into the 3-D style of animation--somehow for me, it's going conceptually in the wrong direction. I think you can do more in art with painting than with sculpture."

Wow, I so agree! Detail is supposed to enhance the mood of a scene, not just distract from it.

Anonymous, I do stand corrected. It has been a while since I had seen this, so my mind is a bit funny. I had not actually seen the ILA version, it would certainly be interesting to see the uncut version.

I think one thing about 3D animation, whilst made by humans with the aid of computers, lacks a certain human element. Anyone see Appleseed? Didn't that feel soulless?

Man, if you guys just reviewed shitty anime forever and ever I wouldn't complain a bit. Just out of curiosity, though, what is the third pillar of the Holy Trinity of Suck? Angel Cop, Mad Bull, and... Junk Boy, maybe? Though that's more BAD bad than unintentionally amusing. I know some people have a big hate hard-on for Bounty Dog as well, so maybe that's it? Though I kinda liked that one back when it first came out. Oh well.

Weirdly enough, Boondocks is also like Azumanga Daioh, in that it used animation to open up what was done with the strip cartoon (as opposed to full-page manga or comic books, which offer a larger field for expression in the first place).

I also find it suspicious that no one has ever seen Chiyo and Jazmine both together at the same time.

The only thing I remember about Bounty Dog was that the entire film looked like someone had urinated all over the film stock. That was the most yellow damn film I ever saw.

I actually really like the look and design of Bounty Dog, the show just never really knew where it was going or how to end it. There were also some really nice mech designs by Shirow, but in total it sort of didn't know where it was going before it even began. Along with some very silly "fifteening" didn't help the show too much.

Also, the final of the Holy Trinity of Suck, Violence Jack! By the way, does anyone have uncut copies of that? Yeah, you heard me!

And here I was thinking it might be Landlock. An OVA series based around character designs from a scrapped Sega Saturn RPG! How could it possibly go wrong? (this is my next review request BTW, after Daryl actually gets around to Jojo p3)

Daryl, when you review Barefoot Gen I need to know if the manga ends with the four volumes that Last Gasp put out, or if theres more. I've heard several different stories, and I haven't been able to confirm or deny it with any of the research I've tried to do myself.

Two new episodes of AWO have gone up, but I just wanted to add my two cents (or whatever it is after the Post Office upped the rates) to the following comment:

It's easy to critisize bad anime when compared to good anime, but what if all you have to compare it to is American animation?[snip]If one hasn't seen much anime then the sheer look of [Odin] would be facinating. And the story is more complex than anything a Disney movie would have.

On the one hand, it's great that we have a much wider variety of anime commercially available than we did back in the day, but on the other hand, back then the average anime fan was willing to watch just about anything...let me rephrase that...the average anime fan was willing to give just about anything a look. These days, far too many otaku are only interested in a narrow range of anime titles, and aren't even willing to speculate about the merest possibility of giving anything else a chance.